The first thing that stands out about Will Ferrell is his speaking voice. It’s even-pitched and just a bit on the soft side, not at all resembling the child-like earnestness of Buddy in the Christmas classic Elf or the faux arrogance deadpan of Ron Burgundy in Anchorman. Talking to him at length about everything from the L.A. Dodgers to his kids, he makes it easy to forget his status as one of the most successful comedy actors of the past 25 years.

“In terms of face-to-face encounters, there are certain moments where I’ll meet someone and I’m not necessarily trying to make them laugh left and right and I can tell, ‘Oh they think I’m funny’,” the Saturday Night Live alum explains, “and other times, ‘What’s the catch? You’re so normal. I don’t understand.’ So yeah, I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m having a normal day. And some people think it’s refreshing that I’m not bouncing off the walls.”

Ferrell is up to his old comedy tricks in Holmes & Watson, opening on Christmas Day. He’s Sherlock Holmes to John C. Reilly’s trusty assistant Watson in a broad take on the classic detective story. This time, the two sleuths attempt to solve a crime at Buckingham Palace during the Victorian era. (The actors, uniting on screen for the third time since 2006, speak in British accents).

The California native, 51, wed to Swedish auctioneer Viveca Paulsen and the father of three boys, talks to Parade in a wide-ranging interview about his role and his comedy roots. He also gives us more Cowbell!

Is this a Victorian Step Brothers?

It would be easy to say based on the physicality of but not it’s not quite. In Step Brothers, you had these two kind of misfits combining with their strange superpowers to be able to do nothing. Whereas in Holmes and Watson there is a partnership but it’s still very much . . . while Holmes treasures his friendship, Watson is still a bit of a second-class citizen to him and that’s just out of his Vulcan way that he thinks about things.

You and John must have been offered a lot of roles together after the success of that movie. Why this project?

We were always thinking that it would be fun to try to do something together but it wasn’t like we were getting besieged with duo comedies, which you’d think that would be the case. And yeah, there’s a brief moment of flirting with a Step Brothers sequel that we ended up not doing. But outside of that, everyone gets in their own universe and they’re working on various projects. This movie was put on the shelf of the Robert Downey Jr. version. I said I’ll do it if we can get John. It took awhile, but we were giggling at how unorthodox the script was. But I know it doesn’t make sense in a beautiful sort of way.

Is it true this is the first movie you’ve ever filmed outside the United States?

I feel like I’m always on these projects where it’s like, ‘Guess what, it’s going to be totally shot on location in Hawaii.’ ‘Oh, we’re looking at Mexico.’ ‘Oh, we looked at the budget, we’re now thinking Chatsworth.’ That’s been my journey. I think about old Hollywood stars doing movies based on where it shoots. I’ve never had a chance to film somewhere exotic outside of Vancouver or Toronto. This is the first time getting to shoot overseas and it was so much fun.

I thought you were going to say you stayed close to home because you had three small kids.

I should have said that. Please, I change my answer.

Tell me something about your friendship with John. I can’t get a good read on him.

Right after we met in 2000, he asked me to do the play True West with him on Broadway. I would have played his brother. He ended up doing it with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and I guess they would switch performances and I was so flattered. Like really? And he said, ‘Yeah, I think we’d be great!’ I loved that he trusted me enough as an actor to pull it off. But I was right in the middle of my time on Saturday Night Live. And I was really just scared. I always remembered that John thought of me having the caliber to hang with him. And after I saw the show I was like ‘Whoa, that would have been intense.’ Then we had John do our Anchorman read-through when we couldn’t get anyone to make the movie. We were like ‘That guy is so damn good.’

What’s your relationship with him like off-screen now?

It’s trying to grab an occasional lunch and hang out. He and his family if they can make it are regular attendees to this big Swedish Christmas party that we throw every year and he’s witnessed a certain member of our family, I won’t drop any names, who makes an appearance as a Swedish Santa in Compton, California. I have to keep it a secret from my 8-year-old. We’re always saying hi and sending each other little things. We don’t get spend a lot of time together.

Do you remember the first time you got a laugh?

I do remember in elementary school I had learned from watching some piece of comedy how you could pretend to walk into a door and if you timed it and kicked the door and snapped your head back at the same time it looked you smacked into a door. I tried it, let’s call it third grade, and it got raves reviews. I probably committed to that physical comedy for that entire year, pretending to smack into walls and doors and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m making everyone laugh that seems like it could be a lot of fun.’ It wasn’t until high school that I had a captive audience that I could perform in assemblies in front of the entire school. There was something there. I was making teachers laugh as well.

Did you have a Plan B?

Around the same time, I wrote an essay that I was going to be a professional soccer player and my Plan B was to be a comedian in the off season. I kind of went right to the Plan B. But no I didn’t really . . . I just thought I’ll give it a shot. I used to bomb during stand-up comedy and think ‘Well, at least I have a college degree.’ I can always be a substitute school teacher. Up until maybe 7 or 8 years ago, my wife would have this running joke where that if it all falls apart, what could we do? We could open a business of kenneling dogs. OK good, we’ve got our Plan B. My brain finally stopped thinking of Plan B ideas.

Of all your skits during your seven years on Saturday Night Live, I bet the image of you as an aging rocker playing the Cowbell in 2000 is the most enduring. What’s the back story on that?

I am surprised that that is a thing that lives on. Now you see it on stadiums played on the Jumbotron. It always makes me laugh. Yeah, Cowbell was one of those fortuitous things where I’m glad I tried that sketch a second time. I had written it and we did it at a read-through. It kind of got some laughs but it didn’t get picked for that week. So I held on to it for the season and thought I’ll resubmit this and rewrite it for [that week’s host] Christopher Walken. He’s just so committed. Don’t throw away any ideas.

Do your kids watch your old SNL stuff?

It’s usually at a friend’s sleepover. ‘Dad guess what, I saw this.’ You did? ‘Yeah it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t that.’ They’re kind of like combat vets. ‘Yeah, I saw it. Yeah.’ What did you think? ‘Yeah.’ What about language? ‘Yeah it’s fine. I hear it at school.’ We’ve never forced them to watch anyone. It’s fun when they discover. My sixth-grader is really getting into SNL so he’s seen old sketches on YouTube. With Cowbell, he’s like, ‘How did you do that, Dad? Isn’t that embarrassing?’ How do you not get embarrassed?’ You realize the act of being a comedian is getting over any kind of shame. And it is an unnatural thing for us to do as human beings. They kind of marvel at that.

Do your kids share your comedy DNA?

They’re funny in their own ways. I have a freshman in high school and he’s very subtly funny. Last year for his yearbook photo, he borrowed another kid’s glasses. He doesn’t wear glasses. There he is with this very serious look with glasses on. Like ‘Magnus, that is so subversive and funny. Totally my sense of humor.’ He’s like, ‘Am I in trouble?’ Like, ‘No, you’ve got to do it every year! Fantastic!’ They kind of have their own senses of humor. It’s fun to see them make their friends laugh. Very similar to me, they’re good kids at school and yet they like to try to be funny. But if teacher is like ‘We’re good,’ they’re like ‘We got it. OK.’ That’s kind of naturally the way I was. I was a really good student. If I found an opening, I’d try to be funny just to amuse myself. I was far from the class clown standing up on my desk trying to get attention. My interest in being humorous never came from that place.

You’re a co-producer on Vice. Did you have any input into Sam Rockwell’s portrayal of George W. Bush?

[Director] Adam McKay and Sam Rockwell would have long discussions over portrayal of character because Sam felt like he had a hard time because he felt like mine was so distinct and couldn’t get it out of his head. He found his own way with it.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what kind of Will Ferrell I was going to get today. Are you bothered by people’s expectations of you?

When I’m doing a talk show thing, it’s so much easier to do the heightened version of myself. That’s the fun. Adam McKay and I said if you’re in comedy, there’s no excuse for doing a talk show without trying to do a crazy bit or adopt an attitude. Sitting there and answering questions, like what’s the point? I’ve adopted that style. I remember Steve Martin talking about it. He was saying that someone was surprised that he was so serious. Like yeah, comedy is a serious business. I thought that’s a great answer. Whether comedy is work or not, it’s obviously very subjective for the audience. There’s a lot more thought put into it than anyone really thinks.

AMG/Parade Digital

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